Has it gone too far? Will it be a one-season wonder? When will it end? Where will it go? Questions all apply to Henry Holland, designer behind House of Holland who seems to have something to say ALL the time on the Vogue.co.uk news section. Plans to design a sunglasses line with model Agyness Deyn for Linda Farrow Vintage, appearances at all the ‘IT’ events, revelations about his upcoming S/S08 collection (it’s more than just a t-shirt apparently…). Vogue is all over him in that ‘You’re our new fashion darling even though none of us Vogue-ettes would ever wear your t-shirts….’ kind of way.
How else did Mr Holland manage to get Kickers, a shoe brand that most UK young peeps will remember either with fond/painful memories, a mention on Vogue? Kickers loafers were THE school shoe that everyone wanted to wear yet my parents would never buy them for me so I got tossed into the ‘sad school uniform’ group. Like all British heritage/traditional brands, an upstart/refit/rebranding is always in order. Henry Holland has collaborated with Kickers to design some MORE of those t-shirts with some semi-fruity rhymes relating to Kickers. Here you have another recent fashion darling, Daisy Lowe modelling them:
Though if you’re honest with yourself, are they half as funny/witty or desirable when the rhymes relate to Kickers….as opposed to past HoH victims – Giles Deacon, Hedi Slimane, Marc Jacobs, Calvin Klein etc…? I don’t expect the same sell-out pattern that’s for sure. Seeing as I still get about 10 emails a week about those HoH shirts, somehow, Mr Holland has made his t-shirts stick around for a while. However, I’d be very curious to see how it all progresses into a ‘fuller collection’. Perhaps his t-shirts are the beginning of a future empire? I snort now….but who is to say what will happen with such illustrious press backing. Funny how what started off as a bit of a joke has grown thus.
On a sidenote, HoH’s t-shirts for Kickers evolved from Holland’s initial collaboration with Kickers on the Kick-HoH reinterpretation of the Kick-Hi boot his his autumn 07-8 collection. Again, it’s the revival of a classic like the Clarks wallabee or desert boot or Yohji Yamamoto’s work with Doc Martens, but the brightly coloured patents and fluro laces makes the revival have more freshly seasonal relevance. I’ll say this in a wee, tiny, whisper… I sort-of, kind-of, vaguely like them? (There’s a very high lilting, questioning tone at the end…). Call it my random bit of Monday Loving when everything on a day like this seems so bad and dire, that something like these shoes can find their way into my ‘I heart it’ side of the brain. oh dear, am I allowed to retract what I say later on?
If 0.0000002% of readers here have fallen prey to the same random bit of Monday Loving, then these shoes are available from the Kickers website and stockists.
I think if I ever met Mr Holland I might wring his scrawny little neck!! If I see ONE more of those friggin’ t-shirts, or worse still, the RIP OFF t-shirts, I’m actually going to start shouting in public.
It will be interesting to see what this trumped up t-shirt designer creates by way of a ‘proper’ collection. Hopefully he’ll have run out of slogans by then.
I don’t like those shoes! 🙂 I would never wear them.ever.
I was one of the kids with Kickers and I loved them (navy blue), but the ‘chewing gum’ version, hmmm, don’t like it too much and I am usually into pink and fluffy (at least to look at it)!! I really dislike Holland’s work, I wrote about it in my mini blog some time ago…sorry, don’t get it at all. And I fully agree with DJM, I will shout from Amsterdam as well!!
I love the green boots. I think they’re adorable. I would so wear them.
I was one of the kids with Kickers and I loved them (navy blue), but the ‘chewing gum’ version, hmmm, don’t like it too much and I am usually into pink and fluffy (at least to look at it)!! I really dislike Holland’s work, I wrote about it in my mini blog some time ago…sorry, don’t get it at all. And I fully agree with DJM, I will shout from Amsterdam as well!!
I want to join in and hurt Holland too because those shirts and shoes give me nightmares
Those Holland shirts are a little bit annoying but just as annoying as those skirt/pants things that were big in the late 90’s. Eventually people will get over them and they’ll end up on throw-out bins everywhere and people will be proclaiming that they never wore on or they had one before they got big.
The pink shoes remind me a little of those brightly coloured Nike hi-tops. I can’t tell whether I like them but they are certainly intriguing? Also does anyone else dislike Daisy Lowe? I always feel like she’s taunting me in her pictures.
Oh dear, Mr Holland will be watching his back now wherever he goes, thinking he’s about to lynched!
L. Yes I find Daisy Lowe strangely irritating and when I first saw this post, after the initial Holland Hating, my next thought was “I find Daisy Lowe rather annoying. Mmm, odd.”
I don’t have a problem with the shirts per se…. (the high street aped versions are pure embarrassment though…. I hope Mr Holland cringes at those…)…. it’s more that I’m baffled as to why he is causing a lot of hullaballoo with the fashion industry. I need more than t-shirts for me to get this excited….
oh my, I do love those boots on the left… with different coloured laces
i kind of think it’s remarkable of Holland to make it so far with some joke tees after the absolute downfall of graphic tees + “witty” slogans (i.e. those don’t make me because i’m pretty etcetc shirts). the kicker jokes are lame in a way that the designer ones weren’t (yet) though. and also, i’d whip out the shoelaces on those kickers and replace them before considering. o_O
I’m not a fan of those shirts at all, they’re everywhere and the joke has gotten old. Those green boots, however, would be a welcomed addition to my wardrobe!
This is funny… I thought I was the only person who liked the boots (http://lemontartletsandwinegums.blogspot.com/2007/02/its-funny.html) but it’s nice to have company, even if I’m not all that fond of slogan t-shirts..
ha! cnt believe daisy’s made it big..she wnt to my skl lol
house of holland is a FAD that will eventually go out i reckon its life span is as long as the whole neu rave fing blowin up here. im not sure how big it is out of europe but shelf life looks short thts both clothes and models.
i have not seen not one person wear one of these shirts… hmm? either san francisco is extremely fashion forward, or it’s terribly behind. oh dear…
Henry has managed to schmooze his way in with the Vogue set because he is in with the Hoxton crowd. Friends with Gareth Pugh, Giles Deacon etc, bessy mates with Aynes Deyn, down with the Boombox kids and Mandi Lennard does his PR. Nuff said. In fact, I think really his success is down to Mandi and the real question is, what did SHE see in the T-shirts that she realised this *brand* could be BIG??? And also, if I was Henry, I too would have milked it for all it’s worth…why the hell not?! I have to say though, I’m totally hating those Kickers. Yuk, yuk, yuk!
I actually quite like some of the t-shirts, i like how they are oversized, bold writing and just fun. But i do think the calab with kickers a bit to OTT..i no people hate alot of his stuff but i like alot of it..
I HATE this Holland shirts, Hate them with passion.
I don’t get it, why does everyone talk about rip-offs, he didn’t invented this type of shirts. There’s nothing original about them, they belong to some 80’s nightmare.
Well but I guess he’s spreading, this Kickers stuff is vile. That boots, Jesus!
*end rant*
i love those green boots and i want one of those tshirts but i can’t find them here in singapore!!! i’m moving to new york in a few weeks and i hope they’re still available! ahhh!!
i adore henry holland’s tees and i’m writing about him in my magazine, “Tee”. I am not as sure about the shoes but they go with the tees so what ever. I hope he stays around for a while longer.
x
i adore henry holland’s tees and i’m writing about him in my magazine, “Tee”. I am not as sure about the shoes but they go with the tees so what ever. I hope he stays around for a while longer.
x
henry holland is amazing and although hes only famous for shirts he nos that when wearing the one trick pony shirt, and its not his fault that crappy topshop distroy everything good then other shops copy crappy topshop and make it even crapper and i love those shoes i need some.
I hate those t shirts, I hate slogans on t shirts as a rule, but those are embarassing, pretty much along the same line as ‘j’adore dior’. Tacky and cheap, and to charge the amount they do for them is even worse. I can’t stand london right now, boombox is a place you go to now if you’re a try hard, and the scene is full to the brim of idiots wandering around in constant anxiety whether there is a new trend they should be getting into.
Saying that, I love the boots, I loved them when I first saw them months ago and I love them now. Thats because I was too poor to have them as a child perhaps….or something.
where can i buy those green boots from?
kickers dont have them atm.
anywhere else?